The Purpose of Elijah, Part 1 of 2

“Behold, I will send Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”

As we all know, the original type Elijah, never died. He was translated to heaven on a chariot and remains there today. So when the Lord promised an end time Elijah, what was the purpose? Let us look into this important area.

Let us first read what brother Houteff said about the Elijah to come.

Since there is general agreement that Inspiration direct from the Throne of God is our only spiritual eyesight, then we should be able to see eye to eye if we let the Spirit of God have His way with us. Especially so, dear fellow believers, since the time is dead ripe to look into the situation, now that God’s people everywhere are aroused by the questions:

“Has Elijah the prophet already come?” “Is the ancient prophet to appear in person himself?” “Is a group of people to do a work similar to that of the ancient Elijah?” Or what?

As no one can in either honesty or impunity stand aloof to the answer which comes from God’s infallible Word, surely you brethren will now give the most serious attention to this urgent consideration, letting nothing distract you from it for you, as well as I, must realize that it means life and eternity to all of us.

The serious issue to which these questions give rise, demands that we cease fooling ourselves or letting others make fools of us. If the questions cannot be answered in positive Truth, far better, then, that they be left on the shelf until the scroll unfolds further, than that they be answered by men’s idle tales, which only confuse and confound.

Now we may ask, Has the scroll unrolled far enough to clear up all these questions? Is the Spirit of God pleading for us to stop, look, and listen, or are we still to wait? For the Divine answer let us open our eyes wise to the light of “the more sure Word of prophecy” Itself, now shining more and more on our pathway:

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Mall 4:5, 6.

In the light which this prophecy sheds on the subject, no one can possibly escape the conclusion that a prophet — a person — is to be sent “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” and that thus only can there be a group of people in connection with Elijah’s message. The Scriptures make definite and sure the promise, the time, and the work, also the way to our security in the great and dreadful day, “lest,” as says the Lord, “I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Mall 4:6.

No one can afford to commit the absurdity of either treating lightly or of kindling sparks of his own on the subject. We should remember, moreover, that it is not possible that God should leave a one of us in darkness if we want to know the Truth, and if we are mindful of what God would have us to do. (“The Great Controversy,” p… 560). To the end that this may be the happy experience of all of us, we should pray that the Spirit Who leads into all Truth would direct this effort.

However, I would remind you, Brethren, that no prophet of God has ever been welcomed by the church. On the contrary, each in his time was rejected, abused, and most of them were martyred by the ones to whom they were sent — the very ones who were supposed to be serving God! Indeed, the Lord Himself paid the same price. For this very reason we must remember that when the last prophet comes he will have the greatest opposition to meet, for Satan well knows that if he loses now, he loses forever.

What makes Elijah’s work especially hard is that Christendom has long been drilled in the idea that no prophet is to come, that there is no necessity for one, that it has enough revealed Truth to carry it inside the Pearly Gates.

It is therefore only to be expected that the predicted Elijah will be denounced as a false prophet, perhaps even as the anti-Christ, offshoot, or what not. (General Conference Special, p.4-7)

Today unfortunately was have a great confusion, or should we say blissful ignorance of the very last message to come to us as His remnant people. Many us SDA say , “Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming.” Yet is this not what all the other so-called Christian churches are proclaiming? The Lord has specifically sent us a message, unlike them, so that we shall know all about His “next” coming, if we want it that is. The remnant church has within its reach , great and wonderful prophetic descriptions describing His plans, His methods, and His coming.

Last week we posted of how the Lord led us into His sanctuary to speak of one of the many prophecies (Rev.12) that came directly from the pen of Inspiration–the Elijah prophet.

But the prophet also brought us many other prophetic interpretations, which we shall briefly summarize in this post. But before we do let us remember that the Elijah was to come sometime “before” the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And this being so, obviously, the message must be a preparatory message enabling us to stand in the day of that great and dreadful day. Additionally Elijah was to prepare the remnant to go to the pre-millennial kingdom. This teaching is one of the most awe-inspiring of the whole Elijah message!

Malachi once again sheds light on the purpose of Elijah’s coming.

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.”(Mal.3:1-5)

We see –

A. Preparatory message given by a messenger

B. A Sudden coming of the Lord to the church

C. Church purification

D. Loud Cry and True Worship

Ok let us now look at some of the specific areas of Scripture that the Elijah uncovered and how fascinating these prophetic truths are in the Holy Writ. If you take the time to read these references they shall indeed lift us up for a bright future. Or if we have still rejected the last message they may make us uncomfortable due to the solemnity of His church judgment.

The book of Isaiah

This book shows us the Pre-Mil. kingdom and the church purification . These references are not all in the book of Isaiah but we will point out some of the well-known and clear ones.